Folding crib



y 7, 1968 J. c. BREAULT 3,381,319

FOLDING cars Filed April 11, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I 2; 38 FIG. I as 38 IO INVENTOR JOSEPH CAMILLE BREAULT ATTORNEY y 7, 1963 J. c. BREAULT 3,381,319

FOLDING CRIB Filed April 11, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR JOSEPH CAMILLE BREAULT J' 5%.? d! I I ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,381,319 FOLDING CRIB Joseph Camille Breault, 96 Marquette St., Gardner, Mass. 01440 Filed Apr. 11, 1967, Ser. No. 629,991 3 Claims. (Cl. -99) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a new and improved folding crib. The principal object of the invention is to fold the crib into as small an area as possible while containing the spring and the mattress. To this end the spring is in two parts hinged together, a relatively small part and a relatively large part, the smaller part being fixed to the rear wall of the crib and the forward larger part being detachably mounted with respect to the front corner posts of the crib so that the larger part can be pivoted to a vertical position containing the mattress against the back wall of the crib, also in a vertical position; the end walls, i.e., the head and the foot of the crib are provided with infolding means so as to bring the usual drop side closer to the rear and allowing just enough room in the nowfolded crib for the mattress and a portion of the spring, wherein the usual drop slide rods for vertical sliding action of the drop side are utilized as hinge pintles for the folding action, all to the end that the construction is simple and very inexpensive to manufacture.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in front elevation of the crib showing the same folded;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view thereof looking in the direction of arrow 2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an end view looking in the direction of arrow 3 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an end view of the crib in extended condition, and

FIG. 5 is a partial plan view of the crib in extended condition looking in the direction of arrow 5 in FIG. 4.

In carrying out the present invention, most of the parts thereof are more or less conventional. For instance, the crib is provided with rear corner posts and either a rear drop side or a permanently rigidly mounted rear wall 11 as is usual and as shown herein. Also there are similar front corner posts 12 having mounted thereon drop rods 14, the usual brackets 16 therefor, etc., and the drop side 18, perhaps best shown in FIG. 1. As usual, the drop side 18 has end portions thereof which are apertured for sliding reception with respect to the drop rods 14 and customary latches, etc. for holding the drop side 18 in its elevated position, or al ternatively resting on springs 20 in the lowermost position thereof.

In the present case, the former posts 10 and 12 are rectangular in cross section and extend transversely of the crib, the drop rods 14 appearing at the inside aspects of posts 12 when the crib is extended but appearing at the front side thereof as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 for instance when the crib is folded.

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The end walls or end frames, i.e., the head and foot of the crib are substantially the same and each comprises a first section including upper and lower rails 22 and 24 respectively, FIG. 3, the ends of these rails 'being permanently secured with respect to the narrow edges of the rear corner posts 10 and terminating as at 26 where there are hinges 28 for the securement thereto of an intermediate section also including upper and lower rails 30 and 32, see particularly FIG. 4.

The intermediate section extends for a short distance and then is provided with hinges 34 and a pivoted lock 36 connected to a third section for each end frame indicated at 38. The lock 36 has a projection for extending through an opening in a latch bracket 40.

The other end of the portion 38 of the head and the foot parts of the crib are fixedly mounted with respect to the inside narrow edge of the respective front corner posts 12 and it will be seen that when the hinges at 34 are released by raising latch 36 to the dotted line position shown in FIG. 4, the parts 30 and 38 may be infolded, which swings corner posts 12 around from the FIG. 5 position to a position with relation thereto, compare FIGS. 2 and 4. Thus it is seen that the drop rods 14 are utilized as hinge pintles for this action as well as for vertical guiding motionof drop side 18.

There is a spring which comprises two unequal parts 46 and 48 hinged together at 50 along an axis parallel to the length of the crib so that the spring may extend out as shown in FIG. 4 where the free edge at 52 overlies and is supported on a hook 54 more or less as is conventional, or it can be placed in an upright position, see FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, wherein it is parallel to the rear wall 11 but spaced therefrom in order to encompass the mattress M. The portion of the spring at 46 is permanently and rigidly connected with respect to rear corner posts 10, 10 and supports the mattress in its upright position, see FIG. 3 for instance, with the larger portion 48 of the spring also upright and the portions at 30 and 38 infolded as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.

It will be seen that this provides a great saving in space and also facilitates shipping of the crib in setup condition with spring and mattress included. With the parts as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, all that is necessary to do to extend the crib is to pull out the front drop side, thus swinging the members 30 and 38 into alignment as in FIGS. 4 and 5 and turning corner post 12 around in parallelism with corner post 10. Then by applying the latches at 36, the entire device is made rigid, and the drop side can be operated in the normal Way.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but What I claim is:

1. A folding crib comprising a rear wall, a front wall and a pair of connecting end frames, the front wall in cluding a pair of corner posts, a drop side slide rod on each corner post, and a drop side slidably mounted on said drop side slide rods,

each end frame comprising three sections, one section being flexibly associated with respect to the corresponding end of the rear wall and extending toward the front wall, and intermediate section hinged thereto, and a third section hinged to the intermediate member, the third section being fixedly associated with respect to the respective corner posts of the front wall,

the intermediate and third sections being arranged to fold inwardly to a generally parallel position with respect to the rear wall in spaced relation thereto, the third sections and their corner posts swinging relative to the drop side with the drop side slide rods as hinge pintles therefor,

a mattress spring, a mattress, said spring being joined corresponding to the position of the hinge axis between the first-named end frame sections and the intermediate sections, said spring having a major portion detachably associated with respect to the front corner posts, and a minor portion having a length the thickness of the mattress, whereby the mattress and major portion of the spring can be positioned vertically encompassed by the in-folding intermediate and third sections of each of said end frames.

2. The folding crib of claim 1 including latches for securing the intermediate and third sections of each end frame in aligned extended condition.

3. The folding crib of claim 1 wherein said corner posts are rectangular having their longer dimensions in 4 extension of the third section of the in-folding end frames and being parallel thereto, the drop side slide rods extending inwardly toward each other from a longer side surface of each of said front corner posts when the crib is in extended condition, and facing outwardly with respect to the drop side when the crib is folded.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,788,960 1/1931 Shaw 5-99 1,827,739 10/1931 Derbyshire 5--99 2,823,390 2/1958 Hagelfeldt 5-99 3,094,714 6/ 1963 Lutes 5-99 CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner. 

